Year 3 Critical thinking: Autumn 1 worksheet

“Claims and reasons” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 3 critical thinking unit “Critical thinking: Autumn 1”, for children aged 7 to 8, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 1 to 6 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Claims and reasons

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 3 · Critical thinking · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can find the claim and the reason in a short argument, using the word because.

A Look back3 min

1.
40 + 7 =
2.
50 − 20 =
3.
62 26

B Watch me, then you4 min

Kit says something at home. Look for the claim, then the reason.

Watch me

A window with snow falling outside and a steaming warm mug on the sill, no people

Kit says: “We should stay in because it is snowing.”

The claim is what Kit wants us to do: stay in.

The reason comes after because: it is snowing.

Now you

1.
Kit says: “We should eat lunch early because we are hungry.” Which words are the reason? Write them.

C Your turn6 min

Read each sentence. Find the claim or the reason, then answer.

A wet bus stop on a grey street with a puddle and no people

1.
Ben says: “We should bring umbrellas because it might rain.” Circle the claim.
We should bring umbrellasit might rain
2.
Mia says: “The bus is late because the road is closed.” Circle the reason.
The bus is latethe road is closed
3.
Put each card in the right column. Claim or Reason?
We should buy a kitethe wind is strongWe should pack a hatthe sun is hot
Claim Reason
4.
Write one argument of your own. Use because. Underline the claim and circle the reason.

Say it out loud: Which word told you where the reason starts? Is it always the same word?

D Spot the mistake3 min

An empty playground in the rain with swings and puddles

Jo says: “The claim is ‘it is raining’, because it comes after the word because.”

1.
Read this sentence: “The swings are closed because it is raining.” Circle the true claim.
The swings are closedit is raining

E Think deeper3 min

One reason can support more than one claim.

A rainy window with an umbrella leaning by the door

1.
The reason “it is raining” could support different claims. Write two different claims it could support. Join each one to the reason with because.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Claims and reasons · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. 47

2. 30

3. >

B

1. Look for: The reason is the words after because: we are hungry. If your child wrote “We should eat lunch early”, that is the claim. The reason is the part after the word because. Point to because and read what follows it.

C

1. We should bring umbrellas your child circled “it might rain”. That is the reason. The claim is what Ben wants us to do. Ask: what does Ben want us to believe or do?

2. the road is closed your child circled “The bus is late”. That is the claim. The reason is the part after because. Ask: what is the explanation?

3. Claim: We should buy a kite, We should pack a hat · Reason: the wind is strong, the sun is hot If your child put “the wind is strong” under Claim, a reason has been mixed up with a claim. Ask: does this card say what to do, or why?

4. Look for: A sentence with a claim, the word because, and a reason after it.

D

1. The swings are closed If your child circled “it is raining”, the reason has been called the claim. Jo is wrong. Ask: what does the speaker want us to believe?

E

1. Look for: Two different claims, each followed by because and the reason it is raining.

Words to use

Say“Which part tells us what they want us to believe? Which part comes after because?”

Instead of“That is right, that is wrong. Just tell me the answer.”

After the sheet

At teatime, listen for one thing someone says with because. Take turns with your child: one of you says the claim, the other says the reason.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

5 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Spotting the Claim(with a plan)
Finding the Reason(with a plan)
Claims and reasons together(with a plan)
Does the Reason Fit?(with a plan)
Sorting reasons into zones(with a plan)

Every Year 3 critical thinking worksheet

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